Sliding connectors offer the advantage of allowing multipole connectors to be engageable by a small force. In a sliding connector, a slide is provided on a housing of one connector to be engaged, and cam pins, which are inserted into cam grooves in the slide, are formed on a housing of a second connector. When the slide is inserted from a starting point and urged to an ending point, both of the connectors engage with each other in a camming motion by the interaction of the cam grooves with the cam pins.
For a general connector, if one connector is inserted at oblique angle relative to an axial mating direction (M), the housing of the one connector can stub the contacts of the second, and may bend the contacts upon mating. To prevent damage to the contacts, guide ribs extending along the mating direction on the housings of both the connectors have been used to guide the mating of the connectors.
For the guide ribs to be effective, the corresponding guide ribs must be formed on both connectors to be mated. Therefore, while the guide ribs can effectively prevent contact damage, this approach is not universal and is limited to connectors already having the guide ribs.
Additionally, the distance between the guide ribs can be relatively large, even if the connector somewhat tilts during initial engagement of one of the guide ribs prior to engaging a second guide rib, the guide ribs work in a concerted effort with each other to start guiding and correcting the connector posture during the time when the end portion of the housing arrives at the ends of contacts, preventing damage to the contacts. However, if the first guide rib extending to the front beyond the ends of contacts is too short in length, the inserted connector can damage the contacts before additional guide ribs are engaged and proper alignment is achieved. On the other hand, if the length of guide rib is too long in length, the connector becomes undesirably large in size.
Additionally, a pair of guiding protrusions have been used to prevent contact damage. These guiding protrusions project from a front surface beyond a lock part of a lock arm that locks two corresponding connectors to each other in an engaged state (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 2008-305607). If an attempt is made to engage one of the corresponding connectors in a tilted posture, an end portion of the guiding protrusion interferes with a lock receiving portion of the corresponding second connector, preventing the engagement of the two corresponding connectors. The lock receiving portion must be guided between the pair of protrusions at the correct angle, thereby preventing damage to the contacts.
The disadvantage of the guiding protrusions disclosed by Japanese Patent Publication No. 2008-305607 is the same as described for the guiding portions, namely that the effectiveness is not universal, and is limited to designs whereby both corresponding connectors already incorporate the guiding protrusions. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a sliding connector capable of preventing contact damage without forming a guide rib.